Bonin Islands in the context of Island

The Islands of Tokyo (東京諸島, Tokyo-shotō), also known as the Insular Area of Tokyo Metropolis (東京都島嶼部, Tōkyō-to-tōshobu) or Izu-Ogasawara islands (伊豆・小笠原諸島, Izu-Ogasawara-shotō), consist of the Izu and Ogasawara (also known as Bonin) island chains to the south of the Izu Peninsula.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly (東京都議会, Tōkyō-to gikai) is the prefectural parliament of Tokyo Metropolis.

Its 127 members are elected every four years in 42 districts by single non-transferable vote. 23 electoral districts equal the special wards, another 18 districts are made up by the cities, towns and villages in the Western part of the prefecture, one district consists of the outlying islands (Ogasawara and Izu Islands).

The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean east of the Philippine Archipelago and the largest sea in the world, occupying an estimated surface area of 5 million square kilometers (2×10^ sq mi). The Philippine Sea Plate forms the floor of the sea. Its western border is the first island chain to the west, comprising the Ryukyu Islands in the northwest and Taiwan in the west. Its southwestern border comprises the Philippine islands of Luzon, Catanduanes, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. Its northern border comprises the Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyūshū. Its eastern border is the second island chain to the east, comprising the Bonin Islands and Iwo Jima in the northeast, the Mariana Islands (including Guam, Saipan, and Tinian) in the due east, and Halmahera, Palau, Yap and Ulithi (of the Caroline Islands) in the southeast. Its southern border is Indonesia's Morotai Island.

The sea has a complex and diverse undersea relief. The floor is formed into a structural basin by a series of geologic faults and fracture zones. Island arcs, which are actually extended ridges protruding above the ocean surface due to plate tectonic activity in the area, enclose the Philippine Sea to the north, east and south. The Philippine archipelago, Ryukyu Islands, and the Marianas are examples. Another prominent feature of the Philippine Sea is the presence of deep sea trenches, among them the Philippine Trench and the Mariana Trench, containing the deepest point on the planet.

The Izu–Bonin–Mariana (IBM) arc system is a tectonic plate convergent boundary in Micronesia. The IBM arc system extends over 2800 km south from Tokyo, Japan, to beyond Guam, and includes the Izu Islands, the Bonin Islands, and the Mariana Islands; much more of the IBM arc system is submerged below sealevel. The IBM arc system lies along the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea plate in the Western Pacific Ocean. It is the site of the deepest gash in Earth's solid surface, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.

The IBM arc system formed as a result of subduction of the western Pacific plate. The IBM arc system now subducts mid-Jurassic to Early Cretaceous lithosphere, with younger lithosphere in the north and older lithosphere in the south, including the oldest (~170 million years old, or Ma) oceanic crust. Subduction rates vary from ~2 cm (1 inch) per year in the south to 6 cm (~2.5 inches) in the north.

Izu Ōshima (伊豆大島, Izu-ōshima) is an inhabited volcanic island in the Izu archipelago and borders Sagami Bay and the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Honshu, Japan, 22 km (14 mi) east of the Izu Peninsula and 36 km (22 mi) southwest of Bōsō Peninsula. As with the other islands in the Izu Island group, Izu Ōshima forms part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Izu Ōshima, at 91.06 km (35.16 sq mi) is the largest and closest of Tokyo's outlying islands, which also include the Ogasawara Islands.

Chichijima (父島) is the largest and most populous of the Bonin Islands. Chichijima is about 240 km (150 mi) north of Iwo Jima. 23.5 km (9.1 sq mi) in size, the island is home to about 2,120 people (2021). Connected to the mainland only by a day-long ferry that runs a few times a month, the island is nonetheless organized administratively as the seat of Ogasawara Village in the coterminous Ogasawara Subprefecture of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Together with the Volcano and Izu Islands, it makes up Japan's Nanpō Islands.

Some Micronesian tools and carvings have been found elsewhere in the Bonins, but Chichijima was long uninhabited when it was rediscovered. Ignored by the Spanish, Dutch, and Japanese Empires for centuries, it was finally claimed by a passing British captain in 1828 and settled by an international group from the Hawaiian Kingdom two years later, the original nucleus of the Bonin Islanders. Britain subsequently yielded to Japanese claims and colonization of the island, which established two villages at Ōmura (大村) and Ōgimura-Fukurosawa (扇村袋沢村). These were formally incorporated in 1940, just before the civilian population was forcibly evacuated to Honshu in 1944 during the end of World War II.

Hahajima, Haha Jima, or Haha-jima (母島; meaning Mother Island) is the second-largest island within the Bonin or Ogasawara Islands SSE of the Japanese Home Islands. The steeply-sloped island, which is about 21 km (8 sq mi) in area, has a population of 440. It is part of Ogasawara Village in Ogasawara Subprefecture, which is approximately 1,000 km (620 mi) south of Tokyo, Japan.

The highest peaks Hahajima are Chibusayama (lit. Breast Mountain), approximately 462 metres (1,516 ft), and Sakaigatake, 443 metres (1,453 ft). It is part of an archipelago that includes Chichijima approximately 50 km (31 mi) to the north and the nearby smaller islands such as Anejima and Imōtojima and Mukōjima. The group forms the Hahajima Rettō (母島列島; formerly the "Baily Group").

Ogasawara Subprefecture (小笠原支庁, Ogasawara-shichō) is a subprefecture of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in Japan. The subprefecture covers the Bonin and Volcano Islands and three isolated islets (the "Ogasawara Archipelago") and is coterminous with the village of Ogasawara. The subprefecture covers 104.41 square kilometers (40.31 sq mi) and has a population of 2,930 in 2023. It maintains a main office on Chichijima and a branch office on Hahajima, the two permanent settlements in the islands. (The SDF base on Iwo Jima is supported separately, although still notionally part of the subprefecture and village's jurisdiction.)

Iwo Jima (硫黄島, Iōtō, Iōjima; English: /ˌiː.woʊ.ˈdʒiː.mə/, Japanese: [i.oː.toː] or [i.oː.(d)ʑi.ma], lit. 'Sulfur Island') is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although 1,200 km (750 mi) south of Tokyo on Honshu, Iwo Jima is administered as part of the Ogasawara Subprefecture of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Only 29.86 square kilometers (11.53 sq mi) in size, the island is still volcanic and emits sulfurous gases. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at 169 m (554 ft) high. Although likely passed by Micronesians who made their way to the Bonins to the north, Iwo Jima was largely ignored by the Spanish, Dutch, British, and Japanese until a relatively late date after its 1543 rediscovery. The Japanese eventually colonized the island, administering it as the Ioto or Iojima Village under Tokyo's jurisdiction until all civilians were forcibly evacuated to Honshu in July 1944 near the end of World War II.

The Bonin Islanders, also known as the Ogasawara Islanders or Ōbeikei tōmin (欧米系島民; lit. 'European–American Islanders') in Japanese, are a Euronesian ethnic group native to the Bonin Islands (or Ogasawara Islands). They are culturally and genetically distinct from other Japanese ethnic groups such as the Yamato, Ainu, and Ryukyuans as they are the modern-day descendants of a multitude of racial and ethnic groups including the Europeans, White Americans, Polynesians, and Kanaks who settled Hahajima and Chichijima in the 19th century.

Bonin English, also known as the Bonin Islands language or Ogasawara English, is a group of English and Japanese-based creole dialects of the Bonin Islands (officially the Ogasawara Islands) south of Japan with strong Japanese influence, to the extent that it has been called a mixture of English and Japanese.

Japanization or Japanisation is the process by which Japanese culture dominates, assimilates, or influences other cultures. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, "To japanize" means "To make or become Japanese in form, idiom, style, or character". Historically, areas occupied by Japan were subject to long-term colonisation and assimilation with a few (i.e., Hokkaido and Ryukyu Islands, Bonin Islands) remaining Japanized post-World War II.

Aogashima (青ヶ島) is a volcanic island to the south of Japan in northernmost Micronesia. It is the southernmost and most isolated inhabited island of the Izu Islands. The islands border the northeast Philippine Sea and lie north of the Ogasawara Islands. The island lies approximately 358 kilometres (222 mi) south of mainland Tokyo and 64 kilometres (40 mi) south of Hachijō-jima.

The island is administered as the village of Aogashima, which is subordinate to the Hachijō Subprefecture, which itself is governed by the City of Tokyo. The island has an area of 8.75 km (3.38 sq mi), and, as of 2014, its population is a mere 170 people. This means that the village of Aogashima has the smallest population of any municipality in Japan. Aogashima is also part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.

Ogasawara Village (小笠原村, Ogasawara-mura) is a village in Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan, that governs the Bonin Islands, Volcano Islands, and three remote islands (Nishinoshima, Minamitorishima and Okinotorishima).

The Izu–Ogasawara Trench (伊豆・小笠原海溝, Izu–Ogasawara Kaikō), also known as Izu–Bonin Trench, is an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, consisting of the Izu Trench (at the north) and the Bonin Trench (at the south, west of the Ogasawara Plateau).

It stretches from Japan to the northernmost section of Mariana Trench. The Izu–Ogasawara Trench is an extension of the Japan Trench. Here, the Pacific plate is being subducted beneath the Philippine Sea plate, creating the Izu Islands and Bonin Islands on the Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc system.

Bernardo de la Torre or della Torres (died 1545) was a Spanish explorer during the Age of Discovery. He participated in Ruy López de Villalobos's failed expedition to establish a greater Spanish presence in the East Indies. Stuck for months on the eastern side of Mindanao, the expedition ran low on supplies, suffered repeated accidents, and was discovered and ordered to leave by the Portuguese. López de Villalobos sent De la Torre east across the Pacific Ocean to seek supplies and reinforcements from Mexico. Attempting a new northern route, De la Torre discovered the Volcano Islands—which he named after an eruption active as he passed—before being forced to turn back from lack of water and high storm waves. During this return voyage, his ship became the first known to have circumnavigated Mindanao.

De la Torre is sometimes further claimed to have named Mindanao Caesarea Caroli in honor of the Habsburg emperor Charles V; to have named Leyte and Samar the Philippines in honor of the crown prince Philip (later King Philip II of Spain); to have named Iwo Jima Sulfur Island, eventually leading to its current Japanese name; to have discovered the Bonin Islands; and to have explored the northern coast of New Guinea.